Senior citizens retiring today face challenges previous generations did not. This means careful planning is needed to help our seniors through these obstacles. Many seniors are taking on part-time jobs to supplement their incomes and to hold off on tapping into retirement savings.

Some of the most common challenges faced by seniors today are the following:

• High costs of prescription drugs. Seniors often underestimate the high number of prescription drugs they will be prescribed – and the high costs associated with typical health insurance plans.

• Widows unprepared for the need for credit. If a woman did not work or hold any credit cards or loans in her name, she may find herself without a decent credit history once her spouse passes away, leaving her without access to needed credit. In this day and age, credit is essential, and widows need help building credit, even if that means starting with secured credit cards or co-signing on a credit account with a relative who has established good credit.

• Expectation that Medicare will cover medical expenses. Medicare typically covers about half of medical expenses over the course of the time of retirement, which leaves seniors with huge medical bills they can’t pay. Many seniors go into retirement assuming Medicare will cover everything, but it just isn’t true.

• More seniors living alone. Fewer and fewer families take seniors into their homes anymore. This means increased living costs for seniors, especially seniors who want to stay in the house they lived in for decades. Many times the costs of maintaining the home still rise while the incomes fall of these seniors, leaving them without the needed cash to pay utilities and heating costs.

• Living longer than planned. With improved medical care and advanced medical breakthroughs, seniors are outliving their financial savings because they did not expect to live that long. Unfortunately, medical costs typically increase towards the end of the life cycle, at the same time seniors are running out of retirement funds.

• Falling prey to ruthless scammers. Everything from life insurance to credit cards with high interest rates and unwise investment plans are peddled to seniors. Suffocating under a barrage of advertisements and offers, many seniors sign up for plans that don’t benefit them, cards they don’t need, and end up tricked into memberships and plans that cost them a lot and don’t give them what they expected. Seniors may need help sorting through the piles of offers dumped on them as they approach their later years.

• Expensive extended care on life support or in care centers. Again because of medical advances, seniors are living longer – and often on life support or in care facilities at high costs. Where as many more seniors passed away at home in past days, more seniors are going into nursing homes and care facilities.

If you have a special senior in your life, invest the time in helping him or her navigate the pitfalls of those later years. You’ll be glad you did.